Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Benito Mussolini

How Benito Mussolini forged key tactics for seizing power, and also created fascism - an ideology that would plunge Europe into darkness.

They were ruthless men with unchecked power, controlling their people with an iron fist. Suppressing all dissent, they demanded absolute loyalty, jailing or killing those who opposed them. They ruled by force of personality, but were plagued by secret fears and private demons. They were dictators - tyrants who shaped the 20th century and left their mark on our own.

From Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, dictators have shaped the world we live in. What drove their thirst for domination and control? How did they seize and wield power? What forces rose up against them or resisted them in secret? How did they finally come to the bitter end?

We meet the most ruthless rulers of recent history, tracing their rise and fall - and discover that they traveled a well-worn path. As different as these men were from each other, all of them followed a series of essential steps, from seizing power to eliminating enemies - the unwritten handbook of dictators. Featuring Profiles of Kim Il Sung, Saddam Hussein, Benito Mussolini, Manuel Noriega, Francisco Franco, Idi Amin.

B' e fir borb a bh' annta aig an robh cumhachd gun chrìoch, a' cumail smachd gu teann air an t-sluagh. A' mùchadh easaonta, bha iad ag iarraidh làn-dhìlseachd, a' cur an nàimhdean dhan phrìosan neo gu bàs. Bha iad a' riaghladh tro neart an nàdair, ach bha iad air am buaireadh aig eagail dìomhair is iomagain. 'S e deachdairean a bh' annta – aintighearnan a thug buaidh air an 20mh linn agus a dh'fhàg comhar air ar linn fhìn.

Bho Mussolini gu Saddam Hussein, thug deachdairean buaidh air an t-saoghal sa bheil sinn beò. Dè a choisinn an sannt airson smachd is ughdarras? Ciamar a ghlac is a chleachd iad an cumhachd? Cò na feachdan a rinn dh'èirich nan aghaidh neo a rinn strì riutha gu dìomhair? Ciamar a choinnich iad an crìoch mu dheireadh thall?

Mar a bhios sinn a' cur eòlas air na riaghladairean as buirbe bho chionn ghoirid, leanaidh sinn mar a dh'èirich 's a thuit iad – is chì sinn gun do lean iad slighe a ghabh mòran romhpa. Ged a bha iad eadar-dhealaichte bho chèile, ghabh iad uile sreath de cheuman riatanach, bho bhith a' gabhail cumhachd gu bhith a' spadaidh nàimhdean – bhon leabhar neo-sgrìobhte, leabhar-làimhe nan Deachdaire. Iomraidhean air Kim Il-sung, Saddam Hussein, Benito Mussolini, Manuel Noriega, Francisco Franco is Idi Amin.

Dubbed in Gaelic with English subtitles

53 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Narrator Alex O'Henley
Executive Producer Ishbel Maclennan

Broadcasts